The students from the Baltimore area, as well as teachers and other volunteers, held up red, white and blue placards to create a 117-foot-by-262-foot flag as part of the Living Flag Ceremony at Fort McHenry.

    Catrice's teacher, Beverly Kulick, is an eight-year veteran of the event.

    "We've been coming to this in the rain, the shine, the mud, and even the cold, but it's been a lot of fun every year. We always have a wonderful time," Ms. Kulick said. 

    The National Flag Day Foundation started the Living Flag Ceremony in 1984 in recognition of the human flag created by Baltimore students in 1914 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the composition of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

    The organizers hope that the annual event will promote "The Pause for the Pledge," at 7 p.m. June 14, in which all Americans are encouraged to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

    Besides the elementary schoolchildren who made up the stripes in the flag, 50 middle school and high school students had the honor of holding up the stars. The students had been nominated by principals and superintendents of each school district based on merit, exemplary behavior and leadership skills.

    Overall, the event went smoothly, except for two broken stars that forced the group to only use 48 stars instead of 50.

    "The hardest part of the day was getting the buses in and out," said Ron McCarty, one of the coordinators.

    "Every year the number of volunteers doubles and things get easier to handle. It gets better and better each year and everyone has a even better time than last year," he said.

    "This program is one of national unity," said Lou Koerber, president of the National Flag Day Foundation. "The gathering of all these students, teachers, principals and volunteers is a symbol of the patriotic unity displayed throughout the country."

    "We're trying to start a new tradition," he added. "It is our hope that every state in America will eventually join us and have their own living flag."

ooph. I feel sorry for the poor editor who had to edit that. Not my best work, huh? But hey, I was 19-years-old and still green around the gills. Over the years, I got a chance to cover the Alfred P. Murrah implosion after the Oklahoma City bombing, I got to write about deregulation and Constellation Energy's missteps, I got to cover the city of Annapolis, I got to write about everything under the sun from love to murders and why love can sometimes lead to murder, I created a consumer column and blog, I got to work with some really amazing people, i got to make some amazing friends and I had a blast almost every single step of the way. It most certainly was The Life of Kings, my friends.

You just saw one of the first things I ever wrote for the paper, tune into Consuming Interests, the column on Sunday, to read the very last problem I resolve and my very last piece of writing for the paper. It's been fun everyone. I won't be running the blog anymore, but I will be reading like the rest of you (and full of snarky comments). And finally, you'll find me in Twitterland until I'm up and running in the blogosphere again.

Have a great weekend to everyone! and Happy Trails to you, until we meet again... (Dale Evans Rogers)

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